Breaking the Glass Slipper, a previous winner and Hugos nominee

The Folklore Podcast, hosted by folklorist and author Mark Norman

Uncanny, a BBC podcast hosted by comedy writer and performer Danny Robins, investigating supernatural happenings. 

It is an honour to be on the shortlist with such amazing creators, some of whom I hope to meet at the awards at FantasyCon in October!

Ali’s choice: The Spick and the Span by Pil Van Martin, longlisted for the Carnegie award

Mossflower cover art for the 1989 Red Lion edition by Pete Lyon

Castaways of the Flying Dutchman by Brian Jacques

Robin Hood and Maid Marion

Warrior Cats by Erin Hunter. I met Cherith Baldry, one of the Erin Hunter writers, at Glasgow WorldCon.

Alex Rider by Anthony Horowitz; Young James Bond by Charlie Higson

I made a recipe from the Redwall cookbook

A journal article by Christopher Quah Wai Kheong and Anita Harris Satkunananthan on othering in Outcast of Redwall

Professor Dimitra Fimi ‘Was Tolkien really racist?’

Cluny the Scourge.   The first two episodes of the Redwall cartoon series feature Cluny.

Spindle’s End by Robin McKinley

Marvel: Damage Control was a limited series of comics, a TV show was in development but never made. The Superhero Clean Up Squad was a comedy series from 2015.

The Rest Of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness is the story of the other students of the high school infested by zombies and vampires, not the chosen ones; the ones who just want to graduate before school blows up again.

Check out Bona Books

Follow Chris on Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/chrismccartney.bsky.social

Stewart’s choice: Memory, Sorrow and Thorn by Tad Williams (First in the Dragonbone Chair trilogy. It is 5 1/2 cm deep.

You can see the original cover on Tad Williams’s website

Ali’s choice: Shadow of the Fox by Julie Kagawa. It is considerably less thick.  

The Girl with All the Gifts by M. R. Carey. A novel about a child, but not a children’s book.

Aliette de Bodard’s essay On Motherhood and Erasure. Anna Smith Spark’s  A Sword of Bronze and Ashes is one of the few fantasy books where a mother is the protagonist. Catherynne M. Valente’s excellent The Refrigerator Monologues addresses the phenomenon of fridging women characters as a plot device and motivation for male superheroes.

Stewart recommends Richard Swan, David Wragg and Neal Stephenson’s Baroque cycle for interesting takes on mythology and folklore.

Wuxia such as Monkey adapted from Journey to the West by Wu Cheng’en. Zen Cho’s novelette The Order of the Pure Moon Reflected in Water.

Historical C-dramas are very big on yearning glances. Stewart is currently watching Veil of Shadows.

Stewart recently read The Library of Broken Worlds by Alaya Dawn Johnson.

The most challenged books.

The CLPE’s Reflecting Realities report demonstrates that the number of children’s books with protagonists of colour published in 2025 was lower than in previous years. Stewart wrote a blog about representation and the Clarke Awards.

EasterCon is the British SFF fan-run con that travels around the UK. Next year it is in Glasgow!

Find Stewart online! Website, Bluesky, Nerds of a Feather. Read Project Hanuman.

Ali’s choice:  A Snake falls to Earth by Darcy Little Badger

Darcie Little Badger's website

EasterCon- the annual British fan-run Science Fiction and Fantasy convention

Emily was on a panel celebrating the centenary of Anne McCaffrey

Scholastic Book Fairs are still going!

Tamora Pierce’s books have been challenged and removed from libraries. Attempts at censoring reading are rising in the UK. If you want to read to support authors, please bear in mind that LGBTQ+ authors and authors of colour are more likely to be under threat of having their books  removed from libraries and schools. See the list of books removed from Lowry Academy in Manchester where a librarian has lost her job and is unlikely to work with young people again. For more information on the effects of book banning on authors, listen to this episode of Our Opinions Are Correct with Maggie Tokuda-Hall.

Food in SFF- Dr Fiona Moore cooks recipes from SFF cook books so we don’t have to. She found this recipe for cherry tarts inspired by Alanna: The First Adventure.

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones has been nominated for several awards. Stephen Graham Jones is also a Native American (Blackfeet) author who writes mostly in horror. I also really enjoyed Monoquill Blackgoose’s To Shape a Dragon’s Breath.

Darren Chetty’s ‘You can’t say that! Stories are supposed to be about white people!’ from Nikesh Shukla (Ed) The Good Immigrant. This book was published by Unbound, which has collapsed.

The amazing Petronella Breinburg, who was born in Suriname, not the Caribbean.

You didn't hear it from me, but Emily's website is https://emilytesh.net/ and you can follow her on Bluesky @emilytesh.net.

You should definitely listen to Eight Days of Diana Wynne Jones, though.

Thank you as always for listening, sharing and engaging!

Ali’s book choice: Vivi Conway and the Sword of Legend by Lizzie Huxley-Jones. Sadly, I have just found out that Knights Of publishers have gone out of business, so Vivi’s trilogy is out of print. Hopefully you will be able to find them at online second hand book stores. 

Find out more about Anna Smith Spark 

The Bread Horse by Alan Garner- front cover. Boneland, which I intend to read. 

The Ceffyl Dwr, the wild hunt, Afanc. Rhianna Pratchett’s podcast on British mythology, Mythical Creatures, discusses water demons in episode 3.

Herne the Hunter. Herne features in The Box of Delights by John Masefield, Silver in the Tree by Susan Cooper and (foreshadowing!) Tad Williams’s Memory, Shadow and Thorn series. 

Angharad Golden-Hand. Rhiannon. Epona, the Celtic horse goddess, who has nothing to do with Sulis/ Aquae Sulis/ Bath.

Hobby Horse- a May Day tradition, originally associated with Morris dancers. The Mari Lwyd is a Christmas tradition, first referenced in the early 19th Century. 

Gelert the wolfhound; of course Gelert's grave isn't real.

Nina Beachcroft, an excellent children’s author of spooky stories. Anna discusses Cold Christmas, which is the name of a hamlet in Hertfordshire, Nina Beachcroft’s home county- and mine, though I grew up near Watford rather than Hertford. 

The Stephen Collins cartoon on Netflix exposition

Nancy Drew, The Chalet School- there are 58 books in the original series, but it was incredibly difficult to read them in order in the 1970s and 1980s! I encountered the wonderful Scrivener’s Books when in Buxton for Novacon. It’s a wonderful place, and that perfect shop for stumbling over that elusive third book in an out of print series!

I remembered Pat O’Shea’s The Hounds of the Morrigan and Aliette de Bodard on Motherhood and Erasure in speculative fiction- Aliette talks about this blog on the Breaking the Glass Slipper podcast. 

Seanan McGuire’s wonderful The Wayward Children series

Ali's choice: Wynd book 1: The Flight of the Prince by James Tynion IV and Michael Dialnyas

Robert is 1/4 of wonderful Bona Books! The Wrath Month kickstarter is still open for stretch goals backing.

Return to Oz (1985) trainer here: relive your childhood trauma!

I still can't find the Arena documentary, but here is a PBS one

Robert's favourite Oz retelling is Wicked by Gregory Maguire

Mine is Was by Geoff Ryman

Pride is a wonderful film about solidarity and intersectional identity

Boom! Studios comics

For other episodes on "race/ ethnicity" in fantasy, check out this episode with Russell Smith; for queerness in fantasy, this one with Juliet Kemp. 

Follow Rob on Bluesky and Instagram

Bona Books' Instagram 

Follow me on Instagram for gorgeous images from Wynd and more!

Sandra’s book: The Wind on the Moon by Eric Linklater

Ali’s book: The Wild Robot by Peter Brown. It’s also a film

The Politics of Fantasy by Brian Attebury

Catherine Crumb on her bicycle

Nicolas Bentley’s illustrations

Rudyard Kipling’s Just-So Stories

Murderbot by Martha Wells. It’s also a TV series

The Martian by Andy Weir

Tik Tok by John Sladek

Peter Brown’s website

Sandra is not a dog groomer from the US

Thanks as always to Steve Vapour Trails for production support. Why not go and give his radio show a listen?

Ali's choice (first read in 2022, not 2002!): The Short Knife by Elen Caldecott.

Tir na n'Nog book award 

Ken Slater and fan ac

Some books where a “commoner” becomes a prince:

The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain

The Prisoner of Zenda and Rupert of Hentzau by Anthony Hope

The Lost Prince by Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Horse and his Boy by C. S. Lewis

Caroline’s Rosemary Sutcliff books

Elen Caldecott’s website and Leaf, the journal of writing for young people

Caroline’s fan writing Reflections in the Shards edited by Claire Brialey and Mark Plummer

Thanks as always to Steve Vapour Trails for production support. Why not go and give his radio show a listen?

Ali’s book

Stars and Sabers publishing

Ferengi “Human female”

Murderbot trailer

Dave McKean’s website

SF Said’s website

Alfred Bester: The Stars my Destination

There are two sequels to War of the Worlds: the straight to DVD adaptation and Stephen Baxter’s The Massacre of Mankind

Material Girls podcast episode discussing Romantasy

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles trailer. This is what the first couple of chapters of Phoenix is like. It doesn’t end up like this.

Jim’s website, Worrad Enterprises

Thanks as always to Steve Vapour Trails, Jack Sadler-Johnson and Danny!

Ali’s choice: The Zombie Project by Alice Nuttall

1. M. Hoover on the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction

Alice Nuttall’s Linktree

The Hugo and Lodestar finalists

Other books for children with adult protagonists (off the top of my head!):

Professor Branestawm by Norman Hunter

Mrs Pepperpot by Alf Prøysen

Mr Benn by David McKee

Mrs Armitage on Wheels by Quentin Blake

George Romero’s The Night of the Living Dead- trailer

First Thursday fandom drinks in London

Ali’s copy of the book

Ali’s choice: The Beginners Guide to Curses by Lari Don

More about Elizabeth Goudge

More about Lari Don

Heliotrope flowers

Lari Don on Rhianna Pratchett’s BBC radio show about British mythical creatures talking about kelpies

The legend of Gelert and Greyfriars Bobby

Kate Crackernuts

Whuppity Stoorie

Mairi Hedderwick

Katie Morag TV series

Glasgow Worldcon 2024 Presents on Youtube

LACon V: Worldcon 2026

Follow Meg on BlueSky

Catriona’s choice: The Silver Crown by Robert C. O’ Brien

Ali’s choice: Dread Wood by Jennifer Killick

We discuss Robert C. O’ Brien’s better-known books, Z for Zachariah and Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. You may like to listen to the episode The Anti- Reepicheep League with Ang Rosin about Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH and The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents here.

We also mention The Demon Headmaster by Gillian Cross; Russell Smith selected it as his Fantasy Book Swap choice.

Jennifer Killick was a guest on the fantastic podcast about children’s books, The Island of Brilliant.

I am not a shill for The Phoenix Comic, I promise.

Catch up with Catriona via her website, https://catrionasilvey.com/index.html

Join us at EasterCon next year in Birmingham!

Ali’s choice: The Mermaid, the Witch and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall. The sequel has just been published: The Siren, the Song and the Spy

Ida had a different edition from mine

Other books we mention in this episode:

Fathomfolk by Eliza Chan

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty

The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen

Sarah Baartman, the Khoekhoe woman whose birth name may have been Ssehura, displayed in Europe as the Hottentot Venus

Ida’s award-winning short story Infinite Tea in the Demerara Café is in the NewCon Press anthology London Centric

Her novella Fish!

 Ida has a story in the anthology Laughs in Space.

Follow Ida on Bluesky Facebook and @ida_Keogh on Instagram

Ali’s choice: David A. Robertson’s The Barren Grounds

Katie is just back from FantasyCon! Next year Brighton hosts World FantasyCon 2025; come and join us!

Neil Gaiman’s short story is called ‘The Problem of Susan’ and is in the collection Fragile Things (it is of course entirely up to you whether or not you wish to support Gaiman’s work by buying it new or second hand.)

Katie couldn’t continue with Robin Hobb’s Soldiers Sons trilogy because the food descriptions brought on morning sickness

Fiona Moore’s blog, where she cooks from SFF cook books so we don’t have to!

Lovely Gili Bar-Hillel introduced me to this brilliant piece of fan fic where Anthony Bourdain reviews Narnian hospitality. Read it, it’s perfect! https://archiveofourown.org/works/137185

The BBC 1988 adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Leeds Playhouse’s adaptation of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe runs from 18th November 2024- 25th January 2025

Trailer for Greta Gerwig’s adaptation

Tilda Swinton’s White Witch tempts Edmund

I delivered a paper on orientalism in the Chronicles of Narnia at a Historical Fictions Network conference. You can read it here

David A. Robertson’s website

Scottish bannock recipe. Canadian First Nations Bannocks were adapted from Scottish recipes. I have not found a bison chili recipe; I assume that you first catch your bison.

The Little Bookshop, Leeds

City Books, Brighton

Find Katie online

AuthorAssist.co.uk

@Katiebruce.bsky.social on BlueSky

@Katiebrucecake on Instagram

I was a guest on Steve Vapour Trail’s radio show many moons ago with a selection of fantasy and science fiction-themed music. Enjoy the playlist here. Thank you to Danny for the idents, and to Jack Sadler-Johnson for the use of his beautiful track Bliss.

Una’s choice: Lucy M Boston’s The Children of Green Knowe . This is the Puffin edition Una has. The 70th anniversary edition is available from Hemingford Grey shop.

The TV adaptation

Ali’s choice: Pádraig Kenny’s The Monsters of Rookhaven

Illustrations here and here

Una mentions Tom’s Midnight Garden. You can listen to Episode 25 with Tony Keen, where we discuss the book here.

Books mentioned in this episode:

• Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
• Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
• The Spire by William Golding
• Red Shift by Alan Garner
• The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal
• Meg and Mog by Helen Nicoll, illus Jan Pienkowski
• Thornhill by Pam Smy
• Isadora Moon by Helen Muncaster
• Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke
• Earthsea and Annals of the Western Shore by Ursula Le Guin
• Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander

Authors mentioned in this episode:

• Catherine Cookson, who is still in print
• Helen Forrester

Una’s most recent book: Doctor Who: Caged

Follow Una on Bluesky @unamccormack.bsky.social

Thanks as always to Steve Vapour Trails. Check out his radio show on Radio Lewes here! Thank you to Danny for the fresh new idents, and to Jack Sadler-Johnson for the use of his beautiful track Bliss.

In today’s episode, I am joined by Scott K.  Andrews and Kit Power from the Writeopolis podcast. We have a lovely chat, and then Fantasy Book Swap proper starts at 12 minutes in.

Scott’s choice: The Devil on the Road by Robert Westall

Ali’s choice: Unraveller by Frances Hardinge

The Lodestar award finalists- scroll to the bottom of the page.

My copy of The Devil in the Road. Note the cat’s eye, and the gibbet with the executed witch’s body.

Children of the Stones on YouTube, and the trailer for the adaptation of Red Shift  

Robert Westall’s official website

Frances Hardinge’s official website

Frances Hardinge conference, Saturday 11th July 2026, Aston University, Birmingham.

As Kit mentions, he was on Fantasy Book Swap before! We discussed The Tripods by John Christopher and Wildspark by Vashti Hardy.

A Wikipedia summary of Hans Christian Andersen’s story The Wild Swans

A list of Joan Aiken’s Wolves books

Leon Garfield  

Find out more about Scott here, Kit here and join the Writeopolis patreon here.

Thanks as always to Steve Vapour Trails. Check out his radio show on Radio Lewes here! Thank you to Danny for the fresh new idents, and to Jack Sadler-Johnson for the use of his beautiful track Bliss.

 Until next time, bye!

Tade Thompson’s Bluesky: @tadethompson.bsky.social

Tade’s award-winning novel Rosewater is the New Scientist’s July book club pick.

Tade’s pick: The Masters of Solitude by Marvin Kaye and Parke Godwin. It’s out of print, but widely available second hand with absolutely dreadful covers like this and this, the Conan in Space one.

Ali’s pick: An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir.

Thanks as always to Steve Vapour Trails. Check out his radio show on Radio Lewes here! Thank you to Danny for the fresh new idents, and to Jack Sadler-Johnson for the use of his beautiful track Bliss.

 Until next time, bye!

Esther’s choice: Like a Charm by Elle McNicoll

Elle’s novel A Kind of Spark was adapted by CBBC. Several members of the cast are neurodiverse.

Information about dyspraxia here

Elle McNicholl’s website

Esther and Ali mention a lot of books and other media! Hilary McKay’s Casson family books, Terry Pratchett’s Only You Can Save Mankind, the spinning room in Poltergeist, You’re Wrong About… podcast on the Amityville horror and  the CBC podcast on the satanic panic.

The history of Castle Stalker with photos

Greyfriars Bobby monument and the story

Candlemakers Row. I think the red shop is the bookshop.

Glasgow Necropolis

Mary King’s Close, Edinburgh which features in Lari Don’s book First Aid for Fairies. It’s an injured centaur that Helen looks after first.

Andy The Highlander

Romance book recommendations

• Olivia Dade
• Talia Hibbert
• Helen Hoang

Thanks so much to Esther! Find out more about Glasgow 2024 Worldcon here.

Thanks for listening! Thanks to Steve for the production assistance. Steve’s band, The Late Returns, are playing a gig supporting Bone Records at The Brunswick, Hove on Friday! Unfortunately, it’s sold out. Thanks to Danny for the idents and to Jack Sadler-Johnson for the use of his beautiful track Bliss.

Follow me on Instagram and Bluesky @alisonbaker01.

Ali’s choice: Wildspark by Vashti Hardy

Kit’s Patreon

Kit’s page on Amazon

 Kit reads his essay on The Tripods on his podcast feed

The British Fantasy Society award shortlist

Thanks as always to Steve Vapour Trails. Check out his radio show on Radio Lewes here! Thank you to Danny for the fresh new idents, and to Jack Sadler-Johnson for the use of his beautiful track Bliss.

I have signed up for Ko-Fi. For the month of September I have pledged to walk for 30 minutes a day in aid of the Trussell Trust, who both provide food banks and campaign for the end of food poverty. If you’d like to support me, please donate at https://ko-fi.com/alibb. I will post a screenshot daily from my Active 10 app onto my Instagram, and on 30th September will share how much I am donating!

Ali’s choice: The Strangeworlds Travel Agency: The Edge of the Ocean by L. D. Lapinski. I talked to Phil Dyson about the first book in the series, way back in episode 2!

Find links to Juliet’s social media and information about their books from their website. Check out their short fiction via the link, and also their non-fiction writing: I love this essay on capitalism in worldbuilding.

I talk about the amazing South Riding by Winifred Holtby. Read it; it’s an amazing piece of writing with an strong sense of place.

Please do like, review and recommend! It does satisfy my vanity- but it’s also great to know that people enjoy what I do. And it helps to bring in new listeners.

Thanks as always to Steve Vapour-Trails for production assistance and to Jack Sadler-Johnson for the use of his track Bliss. Why not check out Steve’s radio show, Vapour Trails on Radio Lewes?

Ali’s choice: How To Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell

The full list of Magic Shop books here

Cressida Cowell’s Wizard of Once books and new book, Which Way to Anywhere have more diverse casts.

My now 14-year-old as Hiccup when he was 5. He cosplayed Hiccup at his first Eastercon.

The note that Mr Elives gives Jeremy and the magical librarian Hyacinth Priest from the US edition of Jeremy Thatcher.  Illustrator: Gary A. Lippincott.

How To Train Your Dragon, the book within the book.

For more information about research into boys and reading, I recommend Boys Don’t Try? by Matt Pinkett and Mark Roberts. It’s available as an e-book as well as a paperback.

I recommend the audiobook of How To Train Your Dragon, read by David Tennent. Try using your local library app to borrow it!

Trip’s social media links here and Bona Books here

As always, thanks to Steve Vapour-Trails for production assistance. Check out his latest show on Radio Lewes!

SJ’s choice: Andra by Louise Lawrence, with the ABC TV cover

Ali’s choice: Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

SJ’s website: https://www.sjgroenewegen.co.uk Pre-order The Disinformation War here

@nyssa1968 – twitter

Reachingforthevoid - tumblr

https://mitpress.mit.edu/9781913380809/ - links to pre-orders/orders for the Disinformation War, out on 13 June.

SJ will be at Super Relaxed Fantasy Club on 13 June at Star of Kings, London, for readings and Q&A. https://www.facebook.com/groups/srfclondon/about

1990 was the dystopian TV series SJ couldn’t remember the title of, not 1991. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075469/

Dangerous Visions and New Worlds: Radical Science Fiction, 1950 to 1985

Edited by Andrew Nette and lain McIntyre © 2021 PM Press ISBN: 9781629638836

Mentions Andra on a few pages, including the TV series. It quotes Kari Sperring about Louise Lawrence.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empress_Wu_(TV_series) the TV show on SBS in the late 1980s in Australia.

The Untamed was my first Chinese drama show, and Ali kept thinking of it when reading Iron Widow.

This is the edition that Kari has

We talk about the illustrations, by Ralph Thompson: Kookaburra and Wombat

Ali’s choice: Abyssinia by Ursula Dubosarsky

A doll’s dress at Rouse Hill Farm Estate, New South Wales

Other books mentioned in the episode

Marguerite Henry’s Misty of Chincoteague

The Pullein-Thompson sisters

Ruby Ferguson’s Jill books and sequels by Jane Badger, righting the wrongs of Jill being exiled from the world of ponies

The Follyfoot books by Monica Dickens. Please enjoy the brilliant TV show theme tune!

K.M. Peyton’s Flambards, which was also televised

Walter Farley’s Black Stallion books

Mary O’Hara’s My Friend Flicka

Rumer Godden’s Miss Happiness and Miss Flower

Helen Clare’s Five Dolls series

Enid Blyton’s Amelia Jane

Kari on Facebook and website. Buy her new book!

Ali’s choice: Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi

The Mahabharat has been dramatized twice for TV. This is the one I watched in the 1980s.

If you want to read the other great Sanskrit epic, the Ramayana, I recommend this graphic novel version told from Sita’s perspective.

A new biography of Edith Nesbit was published in 2019.

The House of Arden was dramatized for BBC radio in 1989. You can buy an audiobook collection of Nesbit adaptations here.

Follow Kate on Twitter at @katepreach and @fantasybookclu3, and on Instagram, where she posts pictures of her artwork and cats @kate.towner.

Thanks as always to Steve Vapour Trails and Jack Sadler-Johnson.

Matt and Nina from Even the Trunchbull come to mine, after I guested on their podcast discussing Joan Aiken's Nightbirds on Nantucket and the lovely picture book Peggoty Po.

Matt and Nina’s book: Slaves of the Mastery by William Nicholson

Ali’s book: City of the Plague God by Sarwat Chadda

Book covers- compare Slaves of the Mastery with The Hunger Games

The cover that would have put Matt off, which reminded me of Stephen Pearson’s classic posters

Follow Even the Trunchbull podcast on Twitter @Trunchbullpod, on Instagram @eventhetrunchbull and follow at your favourite podcast emporium, and look out for Nina's new podcast with Dave Pickering, The Podgoblin's Hat!

Thanks as always to Steve Vapour Trails for production assistance and to Jack Sadler-Johnson for the use of his beautiful track Bliss.

Laura is a games writer, Manga translator and the award-winning author of Sing Your Sadness Deep (2019) among other wonderful things. You can follow her on Twitter here, and find out more at LauraMauro.com

Laura’s choice: Moominland Midwinter by Tove Jansson

Ali’s choice: The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo

We mention Tove Jansson’s biography by Boel Westin

I really love Kate DiCamillo’s work, and John Coxon read Flora & Ulysses for the podcast back in November 2021. You can listen again here.

The trailer of The Tale of Despereaux adapted from Kate DiCamillo here

Laura remembers the Japanese cartoons of the Moomins. I love the German stop motion animations. I mention the Moomins on the Riviera film

Thanks as always to Steve Vapour Trails for production assistance and to Jack Sadler-Johnson for the use of his beautiful track Bliss. Thank you to the committee for giving me a programme slot, and to the audience for coming along and asking questions! See you at FantasyCon 2023!

1. This episode contains mentions of sexual assault and abduction. Please proceed with care.
2. It was recorded over the bank holiday in Brighton. Caroline and I attempted to find a quiet corner of a pub to record in during a day out, and despite fiddling with editing there is background noise.

Caroline’s choice: The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley. Sadly, it seems to be out of print in the UK, and it doesn’t appear to be available as an audio book or in ebook format, which is a real shame.

Ali’s choice: A Wind in Cairo by Judith Tarr. You can find the link to the Kindle edition, the audio book and paperback via Amazon here or a Kobo ebook here.

Caroline mentions Katherine Kerr, author of the Deverry series and more.

Judith Tarr on Tor.com. Her column on what C.S. Lewis gets wrong about horses here.

Enjoy this video of Lipizzaner horses, the breed that Judith Tarr keeps. You can see some of the tricks that Khamsin performs in A Wind in Cairo.

Caroline’s Twitter. Her bio includes links to her blog and Super Relaxed Fantasy Club- enjoy the videos recorded during lockdown here!

Ang’s choice: Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien

Ali’s choice: The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett

Ang and Ali are book twins

How I imagine Sardines doing his dance

Reepicheep: ugh

The Secret of NIMH is very weird

The Trailer for the upcoming animated film of Amazing Maurice

Follow Ang on Twitter @ang_grrr

Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I know people reviewed on other platforms and I really appreciate it. If you can’t review on your platform, please do share! It all helps.

Find the BSFA discord here: (play nicely) 

Thanks as always to Steve Vapour-Trails  for production support.

Fairies and witches and toads, oh my!

Kit’s choice: The Stream that Stood Still by Beverley Nichols (who is a man! And he had quite the life).

Ali’s choice: Otherland by Louie Stowell. Louie’s very funny The Dragon in the Library was one of the books discussed in Episode 1, with Helena McCallum

Kit’s book,  In the Heart of Hidden Things, can be bought as a hardback or ePub. Kindle edition here  and audiobook via Audible here. You can see Jenna Barton’s artwork here.

Other books with terrifying fairy folk: Terry Pratchett’s The Wee Free Men, discussed with Fran Dowd in episode 6, and Peadar O’Guillin’s The Call and The Invasion. Be warned: these are brilliant books, but very much YA. There’s a lot of body horror involved. I talked about them at Dublin WorldCon and you can read my paper here.

You can follow Kit on Twitter here and #askafairysmith here.

Thanks, as always, to Steve Vapour Trails for production assistance and Jack Sadler-Johnson for the use of his beautiful track Bliss.

Tony’s choice: Tom’s Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce

Ali’s choice: The Freedom Maze by Delia Sherman

Tony mentions the difference in portrayal of Roman slavery in Spartacus and Gladiator; can we only empathise if the protagonist is enslaved unjustly? More information on Spartacus here with links to information about screenwriter Dalton Trumbo who had been blacklisted after appearing before the House of Un-American Activities Committee.

Tony watched this adaptation of Tom’s Midnight Garden; Ali watched this one while at university. There was also a BBC radio dramatization which can be obtained via Audible.

Tony on Twitter: @tonykeen46 and his blog: Memorabilia Antonia.

Thanks as always to Steve Vapour Trails for production assistance and to Jack Sadler-Johnson for the use of his beautiful track, Bliss.

Ali’s book: Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston

Catherine Butler wrote a paper about mind control in children’s literature and you can read it here

Russell and I talk about the new series of The Demon Headmaster. You can watch it on BBC iPlayer.

Information about the 1990s series can be found here

There is a second Amari book on the way.

I like the look of this and I saw this on Twitter

Follow Russell at @RASmithPSL, and his blog at https://projectshadowlondon.com/

Please note that some women who went to war disguised as men lived as men for the rest of their lives (such as James Barry) while others returned to living as women after their service. Sergeant Jackrum may be considered the former; he may have considered himself a trans man, if such terms were available to him in Discworld.

Alistair’s choice: Sharpe’s Eagle by Bernard Cornwell

Ali’s choice: Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett

During the discussion, Alistair and I talked about the representation of women by both novels: while there are no women viewpoint characters in Sharpe’s Eagle they are there. It’s incredible to me that women were so close to the front line in the peninsula wars, and in such a variety of roles. As I mentioned in the podcast, Phoebe Hessel’s gravestone is still (just about) legible in the graveyard of St Nicholas of Myrna, Brighton, which is just down the hill from where I live. You can find out more about the “Stepney Amazon” here.

See Alistair’s wonderful kickstarter for dyslexia-friendly books for adults, including Sharpe’s Skirmish by Bernard Cornwell!

Thank you Alistair! Follow Books on the Hill on Twitter: @Booksonthehill

Thanks as always to Steve Vapour Trails and Jack Sadler-Johnson

Scott’s choice: A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin

Ali’s choice: Sabriel by Garth Nix

Buy from your local bookseller, such as Bert’s Books in Swindon!

The awful adaptation of A Wizard of Earthsea: Legend of Earthsea and a much better one: Tales from Earthsea

Vetch is indeed a plant.

HP Lovecraft Band’s song Country Boy and Bleeker Street

Scott mentions the Caryl Churchill play Vinegar Tom

Tim Curry narrates the audiobook of Sabriel

Authors that Scott mentions reading to his son:

• Vashti Hardy
• G. Leonard
• Jakob Wegelius

We also talk about Chris Riddell’s Goth Girl discussed by my dad and me on episode 16, and L.D Lapinski’s Strangeworlds Travel Agency, discussed with Phil Dyson in episode 2. The final book in the Strangeworlds Travel Agency is now published- The Secrets of the Stormforest.

Find Scott on Twitter: @stumpyduck77 and on Instagram @doggerelg

Recorded at Reclamation 2022, the British Science Fiction and Fantasy Fan convention. Join us next year with Conversation 2023!

With guest Tasha Suri

Tasha’s pick: Alanna, The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce

Ali’s pick: Utterly Dark and the Face of the Deep by Philip Reeve

Follow Tasha on Twitter and Instagram

Many thanks to everyone who got up before 10:30am on Bank Holiday Monday to be at the recording! And thanks to you for listening.

This episode is inspired by Octothorpe’s episode 54, Embrace the Sweat, where in discussion about Naomi Novik’s A Deadly Education Alison suggested that it was the first book to challenge the classism of the Harry Potter series. I disagree!

You can find out more about Jonathan Stroud here. I think he’s a fantastic author. The first of the Bartimaeus books is The Amulet of Samarkand . We meet Kitty Jones and the Resistance in The Golem’s Eye and the final novel of the original trilogy is Ptolemy’s Gate.

The next scheduled recording is live on Easter Monday at EasterCon, Reclamation 2022, with Tasha Suri as guest. We will be discussing Tamora Pierce’s Alanna: The First Adventure and Philip Reeve’s Utterly Dark and the Face of the Deep. Please come along if you’re there, and send questions via @fantasyswap or fantasybookswap@gmail.com

Warning: there is mild swearing and a lot of cackling. 

Ali Williams’s book: Beauty by Robin McKinley

Ali Baker’s book: Magyk by Angie Sage

Robin McKinley’s website here

Angie Sage’s website here

This is Laurie Pink, Angie Sage’s child, who is an artist: https://mobile.twitter.com/lauriepink    

Ali Williams’s website: https://www.aliwilliams.org/ where you can find links to her lectures, Romancing the Discourse, her editing and writing. You can find the booklist for her paranormal romance lecture here.

You can follow Ali on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok @claficionado

Ali’s paranormal romance novel, Forged in Flames, is published later this year. You can see the gorgeous cover here

Thanks to Ali for being an emergency stand-in guest!

Ali’s book: A Face Like Glass by Frances Hardinge

You can find out about all of Joan Aiken’s books here and follow her daughter, Lizza on Twitter.

Aisha mentions The Harp of Fishbones, The Kingdom under the Sea and A Necklace of Raindrops with Jan Pienkowski’s illustrations, such as these ones

You can hear LeVar Burton reading ‘Furry Night’ from The People in the Castle here

Frances Hardinge’s website, Facebook fan page and Twitter

Ali’s editions here and Aisha’s

Dr Aishwarya Subramanian’s staff profile on Strange Horizons. You can follow her on Twitter.

Strange Horizons Critical Friends podcast with Aisha, Maureen Kinkaid Speller and Dan Hartland discussing Science Fiction criticism.

The news from Ukraine is terrible. If you’re looking for a bookish charity to support, you might like to try PEN International, which supports authors. Those in Ukraine critical of Russian politics will be in particular need.

Ali’s choice: Asha and the Spirit Bird by Jasbinder Bilan

Jasbinder Bilan wrote about the inspiration she got from a trip to India here

You can find Damien Hine on Twitter here and Facebook. The audiobook of  Out of Atlas can be bought here. Damien will be at the British SFF convention, EasterCon. You can buy membership here, but do it soon as prices will be rising at the end of the month.

Fantasy Book Swap is Hugo-eligible! If you’re a member of Discon 3 or Chicon 8 you can add the podcast to the longlist. Help more people read fantastic British children’s fantasy fiction!

Thanks as always to Steve Vapour-Trails for production assistance, and Jack Sadler-Johnson for the use of his beautiful track Bliss.

Our choices were:

John Masefield's The Midnight Folk

Chris Riddell's Ghost Girl and the Ghost of a Mouse

During the podcast I mention John Masefield’s poem Sea Fever. You can read it here. I just found this poem, The Ship and Her Makers,  which seems closer to his prose, somehow.

The sketch Chris Riddell gave me is here and look at the shiny!

My dad is a published author! His book, The Mountain and the Summer Stars, was published the year I was born. Dad continued to write stories for my sisters and me, and Father Christmas left us some brilliant letters thanking us for the mince pies, sherry and glass of whisky that we left out for him.

Fantasy Book Swap is Hugo eligible! If you’re a member or supporting member of Chicon 8, this year’s WorldCon, and you enjoy the podcast, please do consider a nomination for the long list.

Ali’s choice: Who Let The Gods Out? by Maz Evans

You can find Alice on Twitter, read her on Book Riot and read her webcomics here

The most obvious example of an Agatha Christie novel with an unreliable narrator is The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Alice mentions Robin Steven’s wonderful Murder Most Unladylike books, which I can’t recommend enough.

Do you use Storygraph to log your reading? Follow me there, and see what is coming up on the podcast! https://app.thestorygraph.com/profile/alibakerbrooks

Thanks as always to Steve Vapour Trails for production assistance and Jack Sadler-Johnson for the use of his track Bliss.

Please do rate and review the podcast on the platform you use! It helps other people find the podcast, and it satisfies my vanity!

This episode has the favourite winter reading of:

Nicholas Jackson

Danny

DC 

so thank you all for your contributions! I very much enjoyed listening to them.

Fantasy Book Swap is taking a break until the end of January, when I will be back with Fantasy Book Swap 2: Swap Harder. 

Thanks, as always, to Steve Vapour Trails for production support, and for Jack Sadler-Jackson for the use of his beautiful track, Bliss.

Ali’s choice: Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu.

See one of Erin McGuire's illustrations for Breadcrumbs here

You can find Stef on Twitter and Instagram, and buy her books here https://www.cynefinroad.co.uk/shop

The next episode will be the last for a bit; I’m taking a break in January and will be back in early February.

Do you use Storygraph to log your reading? Follow me there, and see what is coming up on the podcast! https://app.thestorygraph.com/profile/alibakerbrooks

Thanks as always to Steve Vapour Trails for production assistance and Jack Sadler-Johnson for the use of his track Bliss.

Fiona’s choice was Edward Eager’s Knight’s Castle, which easily available in secondhand editions. However, N. M. Bodecker’s illustrations are hard to beat, so try to find an edition including them. My favourite is here.  Fiona mentions the Christmas song Silver Bells, and we discuss the 1952 film Ivanhoe, with Elizabeth Taylor playing Rebecca. See the trailer here. The E. Nesbit book The Magic City is out of print, but you can read it free via Project Gutenberg.

Ali’s choice was Stephanie Burgis’s The Dragon with the Chocolate Heart. This book has to be read under a blanket, drinking hot chocolate. This recipe for vegan hot chocolate with chili looks perfect. Stephanie’s most recent book, The Raven Heir, will be my Christmas holiday read this year.

Fiona also mentioned Audrey NIffenegger’s Her Fearful Symmetry as an example of an unreliable first-person narrator.

What is your favourite seasonal read? Record a voice message with your name, the title of your favourite book to read at this time of year, and email to fantasybookswap@gmail.com. Include your postal address if you would like a Fantasy Book Swap badge.

Thanks as always to Steve Vapour Trails for production assistance and Jack Sadler-Johnson for the use of his track Bliss.

Farah co-authored Children's Fantasy Literature: An Introduction with Michael Levy, and is the author of The Intergalactic Playground: A Critical Study of Children's and Teens' Science Fiction

Farah recommends The Tea Dragon Society

Farah's choice: Fattypuffs and Thinifers by Andre Maurois

Ali's choice: Lightfall by Tim Probert

Please tell me your favourite Winter reads! Record a short voice note and email fantasybookswap@gmail.com

Thanks to Steve Vapour Trails for production assistance and Jack Sadler-Johnson for the use of his beautiful track, Bliss.

Flora and Ulysses by Kate di Camillo. There is a Disney film based on the book; see the trailer here The Tale of Despereaux trailer on YouTube

John mentions Groosham Grange by Anthony Horowitz

Ali mentions The Eighteenth Emergency by Betsy Byars and You’re A Bad Man, Mr Gum! by Andy Stanton

Octothorpe British SFF fandom podcast with Liz Batty, John and Alison Scott

John’s website, including links to his fan writing, is procrastinations.co.uk Reclamation 2022, the 72nd EasterCon

It’s the 50th Novacon this weekend coming (12th-14th November)

MERCH! From Stow Shirts  

Thanks as always to Steve Vapour Trails for production assistance and Jack Sadler-Johnson for the use of his track Bliss.

Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce

Tempests and Slaughter by Tamora Pierce

The Tortall universe in chronological order- though new readers would be best off starting with Alanna: The First Adventure

Tamora Pierce’s thinking about gender identity and sexuality has changed over time

An interview with Tamora Pierce on Beyond the Trope podcast

Ruth Hunt the Wild Mage’s wildlife photos here

Thanks to Steve Vapour Trails for production assistance. Please check out his radio show! Also to Jack Sadler-Johnson for the use of his beautiful track, Bliss.

Daisy May Johnson’s How To Be Brave

Fantasy Book Swap episode with Daisy

The Dickens novel that we couldn’t remember was Dombey and Son, where an annoying child does indeed die

The Worst Witch- Mildred unmasking the evil witches

Eva Ibbotson’s books: The Journey to the River Sea is set in the Amazon rainforest

Many of Angela Brazil’s books are on Project Gutenberg

Nicola and Rowan discuss Dorothy L Sayers’s Murder Must Advertise. A cricket match is the climax, foreshadowing the climactic cricket match in The Cricket Term

Nesbit’s Bastables books

The Chalet School book where to the best of my memory, buried treasure is found

Join us at Reclamation2022!

Follow Virginia on Twitter

Thanks to Steve Vapour Trails for production assistance. Please check out his radio show! Also to Jack Sadler-Johnson for the use of his beautiful track, Bliss.

Recorded live at FantasyCon, so there is background noise of 3D humans, including some sound bleed of the panel in the room next door. Let's call it atmosphere!

Mary Stewart's The Crystal Cave- it is in fact a quintet, not a trilogy

James Clammer's Why I Went Back

I got Steve and Jimmy's friendship origin story wrong- Steve was friends at university with some of Jimmy's friends, but they actually met in Brighton. My story is better, though.

Find Tiffani here

Big thanks to Edward James and Jeremy Carter for audio support! Please check out Cast of Wonders, Katherine Inskipp and Jeremy's YA fiction podcast.

Thanks as always to Steve Vapour Trails for production support and Jack Sadler-Johnson for the use of his track Bliss. Your Letters of Comment are always welcome at Fantasybookswap@gmail.com,

Hobberdy Dick song by Rod Anderson https://www.reverbnation.com/rodanderson

The Wee Free Men (from Steeleye Span’s Wintersmith album) https://youtu.be/ybsZpSn1grg

Sheffield Science Fiction and Fantasy Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/2388189214

History of the Puffin Club https://puffinclub.co.uk/history

Link to K. M. Briggs’ papers and correspondence at University of Leeds https://explore.library.leeds.ac.uk/special-collections-explore/6579

Terry Pratchett’s books for younger readers https://www.terrypratchettbooks.com/book-series/younger-readers/

We also talked about The Little Grey Men by ‘BB’. More information here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Grey_Men 

Tony Keen’s course on London and the Fantastic https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/london-and-the-fantastic-individual-sessions-tickets-166044255839?aff=erelpanelorg (individual session on 22nd September)

Fran has read The Death of Grass by John Christopher as a result of discussion on Tony’s course https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/96de7be2-25f3-4799-b6d4-666eedafd275?fbclid=IwAR1icbdZ0Iv7JyDZOxB1NdKXBryXHU6uzHFdllCuhxoIh22xyABHFrV_CtU

Quick correction: Nesbit’s relationship doesn’t seem to have been poly. It has been described as an open relationship, but her husband Hubert Bland’s affairs don’t seem to have been with her consent.

1. Nesbit Five Children and It. My edition is the Puffin Classics one published in 2008, with the foreword by Quentin Blake, but really poor-quality reproductions of illustrations.

Hilary McKay The Time of Green Magic MacMillan’s Children’s Books.

Daisy May Johnson’s wonderful book How To Be Brave

Daisy’s blog, with links to her other social media

Look and Learn Book of The Trigan Empire 1973- Some Trigan Empire books have been republished by Rebellion Publishers, owners of 2000AD https://2000ad.com/news/out-now-the-trigan-empire-vol-1/

Eoin Colfer’s Artemis Fowl: The Graphic Novel by Michael Moreci and Stephen Gilpin. We know that there is a film; we haven’t been able to bring ourselves to watch it.

The names of the characters in Die Hard are of course John McClane and Hans Gruber.

Peric’s daughter is called Salvia

Ming the Merciless; Zorth of Loka

Radio Lewes https://radiolewes.weebly.com/

Steve’s Vapour Trails website https://www.vapourtrails.org/

Follow Steve on Twitter @stevevapourtra1

Marianne Dreams by Catherine Storr

Tamarind and the Star of Ishta by Jasbinder Bilan, @jasinbath on Twitter

We also mention Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, Catherine Storr's The Chinese Egg and Marianne and Mark, and Jasbinder Bilan's Asha and the Spirit Bird.

Alison's book recommendation list: https://www.facebook.com/alison.scott.3998/posts/10158236430174766

Stow Shirts on Etsy

Octothorpe podcast (where news of Punctuation 3 is likely to be found!) https://octothorpe.podbean.com/ 

Escape into Night https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57eRt8kpS4Q&t=206s

Please note that we spoil some important points of both books!

Of course the first Chrestomanci book is Charmed Life! Please don't shout at me. 

You can find Phil @phildyson on Twitter. Find out more about EasterCon 22 @reclamation2022 and https://reclamation2022.co.uk/. You email Phil via the site.

As always, Letters of Comment welcome via fantasybookswap@gmail.com

With thanks to Helena McCallum (@adela_terrell).

Music- Bliss by Jack Sadler-Johnson, with many thanks

Production support by Steve Vapour Trails (@SteveVapourTra1)